Coast Guard Changes Command Structure to Oil Response

New Orleans, La. – Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen says he will now take over news briefings apart from BP. Rear Admiral Mary Landry had been conducting briefings alongside BP officials since the April 20th rig explosion that preceded the oil spill.

"The goal is to create as broad a picture of this response, what's going on, and speak very frankly to the American public."

Allen praised Landry's oversight of BP's response.

"I want to thank her personally as national incident commander for the outstanding job she did in leading what has been a pretty remarkable and anomalous and unprecedented response."

Landy is now be back in New Orleans, focusing on the Midwest and Gulf regions and supervising hurricane response. The change comes as the Obama administration presses BP for more accurate information on its attempts to contain its oil.For NPR News, I'm Eileen Fleming in New Orleans